


Hot Air

by CactusPot



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Prompt Fic, TDWriMo, its just two teens getting snippy with each other, set during Backstabbers Ahoy, this isnt fluff but its not angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27800734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CactusPot/pseuds/CactusPot
Summary: “Workin’ real hard, I see.” Scott pointed at the raft. “How long’d this take you? Three hours?”Dakota scowled at him. “Jeez, it’s my first day. Give me a break!”~~~Dakota has been interning for Chris for approximately fourteen hours. It's not fun, especially when a certain ex-teammate wants a few favors.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Hot Air

“I am _so_ gonna break out in hives!” Dakota whined as she tugged at the collar of her burgundy linen shirt. Chris had spared every expense possible when it came to the intern uniforms, and since Dakota was allergic to _bad fashion_ , she’d experience a reaction any minute now.

Both her hands gripped the air pump’s handle. Dakota paused to sigh. In less than twenty-four hours, her bubblegum pink manicure had gone from glossy and pristine to chipping and flaking.

“Thanks a _lot_ , Chris.” Dakota cast one last wistful look at her nails and started pumping. 

Of course, she moaned and groaned as she did so. This was so far beneath her. A few minutes in, Dakota glanced up and found herself staring right at one of the camera guys.

“Are you just gonna stand there and not offer to help?” she snapped, her voice squeaking on the last syllable.

“It’s kinda my job to stand here and watch, ma’am.” The guy adjusted the angle of his camera.

“Stop filming me!” Dakota demanded. “I’m not even competing anymore, and I can’t have footage of me performing _manual labor_ circulating online!”

The camera guy rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. This is boring, anyways.”

“Yeah, you betcha!” Dakota yelled as he sauntered away to bother someone else. “Interning is _super boring_! I should know!” She could list a ton of things more interesting than interning: sorting through her shoe collection, visiting Daddy’s office on Take Your Child To Work Day, watching her personal chef prepare a five-course lunch. Take your pick.

Wiping her brow, Dakota looked at the mustard-colored rubber raft that stretched limply on the sand before her.

 _You can do this, Dakota_ , she told herself. _Somehow this will get you a spinoff show!_

_…_

_I’m not sure how, exactly, but it’ll happen_!

And so continued her air-pumping duties. Ten minutes later, Dakota had still barely made a dent in it. Not good, considering she had an hour left before Chris needed it for the challenge. Dakota tugged at her collar again. Last thing she needed was Chef yelling at her for not pulling her weight. In her defense, though, the raft weighed way more than she did.

Out of the blue, a familiar, slick voice spoke from behind her. “ _Heeey_ Dakota.”

She dropped the air pump and turned around. “Hi Scott.” 

Her poorly-dressed ex-teammate grinned at her. Except it wasn’t a grin, more like… a sneer? A leer? Dakota couldn’t pick an exact word; she hadn’t paid much attention during her private tutoring sessions.

“Workin’ real hard, I see.” Scott pointed at the raft. “How long’d this take you? Three hours?”

 _First that crazy cameraman, and now this_? Dakota scowled at him. “Jeez, it’s my first day. Give me a break!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Scott held up his hands. “Just meant that if it was _me_ , this would’ve taken six hours.”

His pale yet beefy arms suggested otherwise. “I thought you told us you grew up on a farm?” Dakota remembered this only because she’d noted how his rural upbringing explained his awful outfit. “Wouldn’t you know all _about_ manual labor?”

“Oh, birthing horses or stacking hay bales, _sure_ ,” Scott said. “But we don’t have newfangled technology on the farm.” He tapped the air pump. “This? This eludes me.”

Whether or not Scott was telling the truth, Dakota found herself untensing her shoulders. She even went as far as offering him a teensy smile. Scott was nowhere near as kind or concerned as Sam, but she’d take what sympathy she could find. 

“I know, right? It took me _ten minutes_ to figure out how this thingy worked! And then I took a fifteen-minute break because I _totally_ deserved one.”

“Right, right,” Scott agreed. “So smart.”

“Well, y’know. I have to be,” Dakota replied with faux modesty.

She expected Scott to say something in response, but instead, he just smiled and nodded some more. Kinda creepy.

“Anyways, uh, I gotta get back to work.” Dakota turned her back to Scott and adjusted her stance to better inflate the dinghy.

Instead of taking the hint and leaving, Scott sidled on up beside her.

“I don’t suppose you’ve seen an invincibility statue around here, have you?”

“What’s an invincibility statue?” Dakota furrowed her expertly-plucked eyebrows.

Scott squinted at her. “The tiny Chris head? The little wooden totem he showed us at the start of the competition? Gives you immunity at an elimination ceremony.”

After racking her brain for three seconds, Dakota shook her head. “Nope. Doesn’t ring a bell.” She’d probably been on her phone when Chris had explained it. Not her fault.

“ _Riiiight_ ,” Scott drawled. “Well, if you see it, maybe you could drop a hint to the ol’ Scottmeister? One Toxic Rat to another?”

Dakota blinked. “Um, yeah, sure.” Fat chance; if she did stumble across the invincibility statue, she’d definitely give it to Sam, the only decent person on the island.

“Thanks, Dakota.” Scott patted her back. “You’re a real pal, ain'tcha?”

She shrugged. “Not really, no.” Outside of this crazy show, she wouldn’t be caught dead palling around with anyone who didn’t own Chanel.

“I say you are,” Scott said. “Someone as pretty as you is pals with everybody, right?”

 _What is happening…_? Dakota’s grip tightened on the air pump. Had he been talking to Dawn? What did Scott know about her personal life?

“You don’t know my life!” 

Scott raised an offended eyebrow. “Relax, ‘Kota, it was a compliment.”

“Didn’t sound like one,” Dakota mumbled. _Just bug off already_.

“I just meant”—Scott slung an arm around her shoulder—“that if we’re friends, and friends tell each other stuff, then maybe you could tell me what today’s challenge is? Hmmm?”

 _I wish Sam was here_ , Dakota thought immediately. Sam wouldn’t be pestering her for challenge information. Sam would make some corny gamer joke that was kinda lame but also kinda charming.

“‘Kota?” Scott prompted.

“That’s not my name.” Dakota shrugged his arm off. “Also, you're out of luck. If Chris finds out I leaked the challenge, I’d get fired for sure.”

“Would that really be so bad?” Scott chuckled.

She glared at him. Clearly, Scott did not understand the importance of her spin-off reality series. “Shouldn’t you be at breakfast right now?”

The smile slipped off his face. “I _guess_.”

“You should probably go eat then.” Dakota tugged on her itchy collar again. “I can’t tell you the challenge but I _can_ tell you it starts in, like, an hour.” 

“I’ll take what I can get.” Scott strutted off and waved over his shoulder. “See ya around, Dakota!”

 _I hope not_. Dakota shuddered and resumed filling the dinghy. A few minutes later, her phone buzzed with an incoming call.

“What is it _now_?” With a huff, she flipped the phone open and did her best to conceal her annoyance. “Hello?”

“Chris wants you down at the dock.” It was Monica, one of the other interns. “You and Bridgette are supposed to fetch the chum.”

“But I haven’t even _finished_ filling up the raft!” Dakota squeaked.

“You think Chris cares?”

Her fellow intern hung up. Dakota ran a hand through her hair and stalked off to the dock, leaving the half-inflated dinghy behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Dakota needs more fics; she's an underrated queen.  
> Wrote this for week one of Total Drama Writers' Month! The theme was dialogue prompts; I picked "Jeez, it's my first day. Give me a break!"


End file.
